Need a new hood :) Questions!

Hello, I am getting pea puffers in the next four months, and need a new hood for their ten gallon tank. I need one that can support a strong lighting syestem, cause pea puffers love a swamp of live plants, and I need to keep the plants healthy. So what hood can support the watts I need, looks nice, and is an ok price? I would LOVE to have plants that do demand bright light, cause all I have are javas and anubias and crypts. Also, woul;d it be cheaper to have a glass top, and the light on top, or the hood? Also what would be the best heater for this tank, to keep the temp consistant, and is decently priced? THANKS!!!!!!

 

The cheapest option would probibly be a regular hood that takes incandescent lights, replacing the bulbs with aquarium CFLs.

 

CFLs? what are those?

 

compact fluorescent light bulbs. you can get them at walmart or similar stores. doesn't necessarily have to be from a pet store. they are the spiral kind of bulb. in my ten gallon when I replaced my incandescents, I used two 13 w bulbs from walmart. if you are going to grow plants, i'd get the 6500k daylight ones. otherwise, you can pick your preference like 'soft white', etc.

 

Really? So I don't need the tube like lights, just the spirals will be enough? I'm just wondering, will this siut plants that demand bright light? Like corkscrew vallisneria? or like mirco swords, etc? Caue I really want to move away from the low-light demanding plants, so are you saying this will sustain them? thanks

 

As long as the CFL bulbs would be able to screw in to your top, they should be good. (I'm assuming right now you are using bulbs and not tube lights that run the whole length of your tank). If you calculate your watts per gallon (WPG), you can usually find out which plants your tank can sustain. I'd search for other threads about that topic specifically unless someone else jumps in on this one and addresses it. I'm not sure exactly if that would be enough light for high light plants. Maybe only med, but I know that once you start getting higher into the light spectrum, you may have to start dosing with more fertilizers and carbon, whereas in a low light tank you can just get by without anything sometimes (like mine). So that may be something more to look into. I grow corkscrew val in my low light tank and it basically grows just enough to sustain its size, but it's not exactly thriving so I'm guessing it would do alright with your lighting.

 

Thanks!
will reaserch!